Public sector digital transformation is a complex and multi-faceted process requiring collaboration between many stakeholders across different parts of government to ensure its success.
When implementing various aspects of digital transformation, whether an interoperability platform, citizen portals, or e-services, amongst other provisions, it is unavoidable, and indeed necessary, that many actors comprise their own respective roles within a functioning, seamless digital governance ecosystem.
While governments have traditionally operated in a siloed manner where different ministries, departments, and agencies function independently from each other, the cross-cutting realities of digitalisation require these siloes to be broken down. Bringing different parts of government together and facilitating their interoperability helps to mitigate inefficiencies, enabling these entities to provide digital governance efficiently, effectively, and securely. This is where the Whole of Government approach comes in.
What is the Whole-of-Government approach?
The Whole-of-Government approach is a strategy whereby different parts of government collaborate across traditional boundaries to coordinate on policy areas.
This approach first emerged in the 1990s, with the earliest instances with the Joined-Up Government project in the United Kingdom, and the Whole of Government Strategy project in Australia. The idea was that gaps would be bridged between parts of government that had traditionally operated in silos, with limited interaction between one another.
The Whole-of-Government approach integrates cross-cutting policy areas. Over time, this has included policy domains such as social welfare, public health, education, justice, and more recently digital reform of public administration.
Whole-of-Government approach in digitalisation
This latest domain, the digital reform of public administration, is often thought of purely as a technology problem, but it equally requires a shift in political culture and governance.
Digitalisation efforts frequently fail not because the technology doesn't work, but because ministries, departments, and agencies continue to operate in isolation, replicating in digital form the very silos the Whole-of-Government approach was designed to dismantle.
Applying this approach to digital reform means embedding coordination and data-sharing into the governance of digital transformation, not just its technical architecture.
Several governance factors enable this:
- Political will, leadership, and a clear mandate (plus institutional and governance arrangements in place to support this)
- Effective legal and regulatory frameworks
- Clear and effective communication and information sharing
- Necessary financial and human resources
- Monitoring and evaluation systems
Benefits of the Whole-of-Government approach
When these enabling factors are in place, the benefits are substantial. Greater coordination and collaboration across government leads to more effective and efficient service delivery, decision-making, and resource allocation across policy domains.
When ministries, departments, and agencies interoperate, citizens no longer need to repeatedly provide the same information, making their interactions with government more seamless. This efficiency and transparency, in turn, strengthens public trust in government.
The Whole-of-Government approach and interoperability
The benefits described above rest on one underlying mechanism: interoperability. For citizens, though, this exchange is largely invisible. It is the piece of the puzzle ensuring that information moves seamlessly, so they can engage with government for various needs without unnecessary difficulty.
The necessary information for e-services and other digitalised provisions must be able to travel efficiently and securely, not only between different parts of government but also with private-sector partners involved in service delivery.
While interoperability platforms facilitate this exchange, technology alone is not enough. Buy-in and collaboration from the different parts of government involved are equally essential to making that exchange work in practice.
The Unified eXchange Platform (UXP)
The Unified eXchange Platform (UXP), Cybernetica’s interoperability platform, enables a Whole-of-Government approach in practice. It facilitates secure data exchange across government and with private-sector partners. This requires continued collaboration between the governing authority, who effectively manages UXP, and the members of UXP, who will come from various parts of government and must all operate with common goals in mind.
Taking a Whole-of-Government approach, alongside the implementation of UXP as an interoperability solution, leads to several positive outcomes:
- Time saved. A shared interoperability solution breaks down siloes between different parts of government, creating a Single Source of Truth (SSOT) so that citizens and government alike no longer need to provide the same information repeatedly.
- Rule of law and accountability. Every data exchange is authenticated, logged, and traceable, so no agency can access or alter records without leaving a verifiable trail.
- Enhanced security and resilience. Decentralised architecture of UXP and shared security standards (applied both within the system and across all connected parts of government) mean no single point of failure or bottlenecks.
- Citizen rights protection. Citizen rights are protected under a whole-of-government approach, limiting surveillance via a peer-to-peer exchange of data, as well as UXP privacy tools such as access tracking.
Whole-of-Government and interoperability in action
Estonia’s X-Road and UXP in both Ukraine and Benin are key examples of implementation of the whole-of-government approach.
X-Road in Estonia
Cybernetica was the original technical architect of X-Road, the backbone of Estonian digital governance that remains in place today. Prior to X-Road’s implementation, public administration databases had been isolated from one another, and data exchange was slow and inefficient. X-Road represented a remedy to these issues, overcoming isolation of information and siloes of government.
As a result, X-Road has helped Estonia’s government to improve efficiency and remove redundant paperwork and processes. As of 2025, the Estonian government is now 100% digital, meaning that all of its provisions are available online, truly embodying what the whole-of-government approach can help to achieve.
UXP in Ukraine
In Ukraine, Cybernetica partnered with the Ministry of Digital Transformation to build the Trembita data exchange platform, powered by UXP technology. Here, there had previously been a lack of interoperability and siloed information between the central government and local authorities for the purpose of public service provision.
The Trembita platform facilitated streamlined cross-agency cooperation for digital public services, including the Diia super-app, while relies on Trembita for secure and seamless data exchange.
The result was significantly improved efficiency and transparency in digital public service provision, by bringing different domains and levels of the Ukrainian government into the fold on data exchange.
For citizens, this meant a more seamless and efficient experience, with the ability to access government services online in a user-friendly manner, and reducing the time spent in queues, previously a major issue in Ukraine.
For the government, the digitalisation of previously repetitive and manual tasks has lead to reduced inefficiencies and costs, and increased transparency.
UXP in Benin
Another compelling case of the whole-of-government approach and interoperability can be seen in the implementation of UXP in Benin. Cybernetica was the technology partner developing and delivering secure data exchange for Benin based on UXP technology, as well as a citizen portal and e-services.
More than 70 government institutions exchange data on UXP in Benin, providing over 500 services through the citizen portal. This number is expected to continue to grow, bringing more of the Beninese government into the digital governance ecosystem.
A core factor enabling Benin’s digital transformation success was the political will to implement as effective digital governance system. The impressive speed of Benin’s digital transformation has brought a number of benefits to Beninese citizens, including increased access to digital services in rural areas.
It has also seen Benin rise rapidly on international benchmarks and indices, including the United Nations Online Service Index and World Bank’s GovTech Maturity Index, ranking well above the regional average in Africa.
Summing up
When the key tenets of the whole-of-government approach are applied, governments are empowered to provide effective, efficient, and secure digital transformation.
Different ministries, agencies, and other institutions across government are able to overcome traditional siloes and work together, through interoperability platforms, citizen portals, e-services, and other provisions. In turn, they can provide a meaningful and effective digital governance experience for their citizens.